1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a fish processing apparatus and, more particularly, to a fish processing apparatus that is capable of removing the scales of the fish, cutting open the belly of the fish and removing its viscera.
2. Description of the Related Art
The consumption of seafood and especially fish usually requires a preliminary preparation. In this preparation, the scales of the fish have to be removed, and the belly of the fish then has to be cut open to remove the viscera. These basic operations, if manually processed, require a substantial time, which may be inadequate if a great amount of fish is to be processed.
FIG. 1 is a schematic view illustrating a manual fish processing device known in the prior art. The known fish processing device comprises a handle 10a that is connected to a cylinder 11a. A surface of the cylinder 11a includes a plurality of sharp projections 12a used to scrape and remove the scales of the fish. The usr grips the handle 10a, and sweeps the fish body with the cylinder 11a to scrape and remove the scales of the fish. Once this operation has been achieved, the user then generally uses a knife to cut open the belly of the fish to manually remove its viscera.
A fish processing device of the prior art as described above requires a manual operation that may be time-consuming. Furthermore, the sharp projections 12a may undesirably damage the skin of the fish.
It is therefore a principal object of the invention to provide a fish processing apparatus that is automatic, can reduce the processing time of the fish, and is adapted to process fishes of different sizes.
It is another object of the invention to provide a fish processing apparatus that is capable of removing the scales of the fish without damaging its skin.
Furthermore, it is another object of the invention to provide a fish processing apparatus that is capable of adequately positioning the fish body to cut open the belly of fish and remove its viscera.
To accomplish the above and other objectives, a fish processing apparatus of the invention comprises a casing are respectively mounted a brushing unit, a clamping unit, a pushing unit, a cutting unit, and a driving unit. The brushing unit comprises two scraping brushes that are mounted in a manner to overlap each other. Each scraping brush respectively includes an axle on which are mounted a plurality of flexible bristles that respectively terminate in a scraping portion. The clamping unit is mounted at a location between and below the two scraping brushes. The pushing unit is mounted below the clamping unit. The cutting unit is mounted at one side of the pushing unit and includes a rotary cutting tool and at least a scraping ring used to remove the viscera of the fish body. The driving unit is connected to the respective axles of the scraping brushes and to the cutting unit to drive the scraping brushes and the cutting unit in rotation.
To provide a further understanding of the invention, the following detailed description illustrates embodiments and examples of the invention, this detailed description being provided only for illustration of the invention.